


In the (Other) Beginning

by Joules Mer (joulesmer)



Series: Sacra Familiae [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joulesmer/pseuds/Joules%20Mer
Summary: Chris metJimat the end of a long day.
Relationships: Philip Boyce/Christopher Pike
Series: Sacra Familiae [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797217
Comments: 9
Kudos: 116





	In the (Other) Beginning

******************************

Answering the comm was met by a burst of sound, “You’ll _never_ guess who I just scraped off the floor of a dive bar!”

Bewildered at the opening, Phil only managed to recognize the voice enough to ask, “Chris?”

“James Tiberius Kirk.” Smug satisfaction bled into the name, swiftly followed by uncertainty, “I tried to recruit him, Phil. The Kelvin baby, I mean, there he was in a leather jacket and a bloodstained t-shirt. You should have seen him— the kid has _presence_ even with napkins stuffed up his nose. He looks enough like George it caught my eye, but, damn, the kid is something in his own right.”

Blood? Dive bar? Phil stared at his comm in confusion and asked, “Have you been in the bar fight?”

“No— I just broke it up.”

That wasn’t exactly reassuring. The blankets rustled as Phil rolled over and squinted at the chrono: not even that late, but he’d come off a long surgery and gone straight to bed.

“Wait, were you asleep?” There was a rustle as Chris moved, followed by his voice at a more normal volume, “Shit, sorry. I—” The apology was cut off before the guilt could start in earnest.

“It’s okay. I went to bed early, but I’m awake now.” Phil flicked on a brighter light and sat up in bed, resigned to it being a while before he could get back to sleep. “Tell me again, but pause to breathe this time.”

“I just tried to recruit George Kirk’s son to Starfleet. Four of our new recruits were punching the everloving shit out of him in the Shipyard Bar.”

And wasn’t that a hell of a lot to process when still half-asleep. “Tried— did he say no?”

“No, but he didn’t exactly say yes either. Actually, he laughed in my face. Stars, Phil, what if he actually _comes_?” Chris’ voice contained a giddy mix of awe and something that might have been horror.

From beside the bed, Phil’s padd pinged with an incoming message as Chris practically yelped, “Look at these test scores!”

Phil cast an eye over the scores and his eyes widened, but not as much as what was below. He let out a low whistle and replied, “Look at that record.” It was mostly petty stuff, but it stretched for _years_ despite Kirk’s relatively young age.

Silence, then in a contrite tone, “It may have featured in my pitch.”

“Uh huh?”

“Yeah, um, that and his father.”

“ _Chris!_ ” Phil’s tone was warm, but vaguely scandalized. “You didn’t?”

“I just— I wasn’t getting through to him. And the kid is made for more, Phil. I _know_ it.”

Tapping through the data on his padd raised another concern. “Part of his record is sealed, Chris. There could be anything in there.”

“I know, I know.” Tamping down on his enthusiasm for fear of disappointment, Chris added, “I told him the shuttle leaves at 0800. I just hope he shows.”

Phil glanced at the chrono; 0800 came two hours earlier in Iowa. “If you’re going to insist on piloting it yourself, you’d better get some rest.” A murmur that was acquiescence told him that, yes, the other man was intending to be at the helm in the morning. “And Chris—”

“Yeah?”

“Whether he shows up or not, you did the right thing.” A gusty exhale told Phil the other man had needed to hear that. “I mean it— others wouldn’t even have bothered to look up who he was, much less tried to look after him. I can’t imagine Barnett would have even set foot inside.”

“They were drinking Budweiser classic. And don’t me started on how loud the music was in there.” 

Phil smiled at the mingled disgust and humor evident in Chris’ tone, “Don’t tell me you had to take one for the team.”

“Ugh, it was awful.”

Phil chuckled, “I’ll bet the floor was sticky too. Did you get blood on your greys as well?”

“I think I escaped that.”

“Well, if not, remember: cool water.”

“This advice from my doctor?”

“Common sense.” Phil let himself slide down the headboard until he was on his back again. “Just like telling you to get some sleep.”

“I should let you get back to sleep too— did you pull a double or something?”

“Or something. Comm me in the morning when you land, okay?”

“Always.”

“And Chris— good luck with him.”

******************************

The last two figures off the shuttle were conspicuous: scruffy, _bloodied_ , and Phil wasn’t sure entirely sober either. 

The sandy-haired one was unmistakably Kirk, given Phil knew what to look for. The dark-haired man with pronounced stubble appeared vaguely nauseous as he stumbled on the last step. Kirk caught the other man by the elbow and steadied him, gently guiding him onto terra firma. 

Chris appeared behind them in the doorway, comm already out to contact Phil. When he spotted the man in the flesh the snapped the device closed and smiled in a way that was more reminiscent of a cadet than a captain.

Pausing long enough to direct Kirk and the other misfit recruit in the direction of his yeoman, Chris strode across the hangar and stopped in front of Phil with a grin, “Thought you said to comm you when I landed?”

“Well, l thought you’d be ready for brunch. You’re off today?”

Chris’ smile only got broader as replied, “You thought right on both counts. Christine’s?”

“Wouldn’t try to get between you and your eggs Benny.” They didn’t do overt displays of affection in front of subordinates, but they walked out so closely that their shoulders brushed.

Three-quarters of an hour later, settled into a booth with their second cup of coffee, Phil nudged Chris’ foot under the table and asked, “So?”

“He’s a cocky sonuvabitch. You know what he told me: that he’d graduate in three years.”

Rolling his eyes, because there was something almost fond in Chris’ tone already, Phil took a sip of his coffee. “Does the academy know what’s about to hit it?”

Cutting into an English muffin, Chris shrugged. “I warned Nensi and Gretchen— they both knew George.” As if that was sufficient notice that _James Tiberius Kirk_ , complete with criminal record, was about to turn up on their doorstep.

Phil’s padd chimed with a priority alert and he glanced down, only to pause and read more closely before he announced, “Someone’s been meddling already— they assigned him to me.”

“Kirk?”

“As his primary physician. He’s the only patient on my books who’s not an admiral, captain, or diplomat. I don’t think I’ve been assigned a cadet in over a decade.”

As if on cue, Chris padd chimed. Carefully setting down his cutlery, he opened his messages and reported, weakly, “They’ve made me his academic advisor.”

Phil noticed that an intake physical had been added to Kirk’s records… and the section of his file that had been redacted the night before was now included. What Phil saw made his appetite curl up and die on a corner somewhere. Mouth suddenly dry, he carefully asked, “Did they send you his unredacted personal file?”

Briefly skimming for gaps, Chris hummed an affirmative before turning his attention back to his plate. He managed another mouthful before noticing that Phil seemed to have turned a funny color. “What?”

“He was on Tarsus IV.” Reading more closely, Phil carefully set down the padd and pushed his plate away in favor of saying, “Chris— He’s one of the _nine._ He was just a teenager and he was one of the nine.”

Chris felt a headache building behind his eyes. “He’s going to have a hell of a lot more to say about Starfleet than I’d thought.” Tarsus— the greatest failing of Starfleet oversight in a generation. The thought of it made Chris’ stomach twist. “What do I do?”

Remembering the body language between the last two recruits off the shuttle, Phil asked, “What was that other new cadet’s name? The equally scruffy one.”

“McCoy?”

“Put him in the same housing facility.”

“McCoy’s medical.”

Of _course_ he was. “Then put Kirk in Cochrane Hall and McCoy in Semmelweis.” The two residences shared a green space and were as close as medical track housing got to the others. “Quickly, before they’re given their room assignments.”

Chris tapped a few things on his padd and the room change went through. A quick check confirmed the cadets were still in intake processing and hadn’t received the original assignments. “Please don’t let me regret this.”

Phil leaned across the table to press a quick kiss to Chris’ lips. “Never.”


End file.
